Rolling Rocks Downhill

The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Entertaining Way to Learn Agile and Lean

By: Clarke Ching

Narrated by: Paul Kearney

Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

An impossible deadline. A runaway project. And then you get the 5:30 a.m. phone call… what could possibly be wrong?

Rolling Rocks Downhill is a fast, fun and often funny read. It's a business novel, just like Eli Goldratt's classic The Goal, where you sit on the characters' shoulders, watching them fight to save their jobs and their baby - a large software-intensive project, called FPP, that has been running late since day 1, but now, suddenly, needs to launch on an impossibly early date, or else. You feel their pain, and their joy, as they battle problem after problem until, slowly, torturously, they rediscover the few - but fundamental - principles underlying successful commercial software development.

Sometimes you're a step ahead. Sometimes a step behind. Sometimes it feels like you're sitting in the room with them…

©2014, 2016 Clarke Ching (P)2016 Clarke Chning

Great information for my first agile-ish project!

Great story! Great information that will surely help me with my first agile-ish project that has a very short time frame!

An Agile Transition Book that really hits home

Would you listen to Rolling Rocks Downhill again? Why?

Absolutely! This book was a great story about a company that is so similar to the one I'm working that is undergoing an agile transition.

What did you like best about this story?

It's agile but doesn't scream agile at you along with Clarke's sense of humor and love for bacon is wonderful. The story was told in a way that allows me in my agile transition to take a different look at how everything is working, from the scrum teams to the executives within the organization.

Have you listened to any of Paul Kearney’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not listened to any other of Paul's performances. He was good an being an American I appreciate the UK accent!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The ending, how everything pulled together in the big moment with the CEO.

Any additional comments?

Clarke is an amazing author and his book is a great resource for understanding what and how agile works in a real world setting of an organization (which is oddly close to one that I work in!).

Fantastic!

If you could sum up Rolling Rocks Downhill in three words, what would they be?

Fantastic agile novel.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I loved the lady who was technically Steve's boss. Confident and fearless.

What does Paul Kearney bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Paul has a great voice, he made the story more captivating.

wonderful story, grrat story telling,

i have told others about the book and the audible program. it was a wonderful story.

Agility in plain English

First this is and remains a story, and that's so much better than dreary business books. Then, this is a respectfull story showing how agility is both new and old, a continuation and improvment of certain ways of leading a project and a revolution compared to other methods. It's fantastic !

For those who read Goldratt's work and Critical chain, just dive in and get on to the next stage

A quick, entertaining read, broadly creative

Excellent narration, believable.

What Goldratt did for TOC and manufacturing, Ching has done for software development and delivery. There is some "stories from the guru on the mountain top", but along the way many people get to contribute their inspiration. A good agile narrative.

useful for beginners but boring for experienced.

This is a great material if you a beginner in scrum or other agile methodologies.

love this book!

This book is well-known and well-recommended, and now I see why. I downloaded to listen as a part of my studies to become agile certified, and it helped tremendously. It was very entertaining and I loved listening to the narrator! I was hooked from the beginning. Highly recommneded!

Better books are available

The Phoenix Project and The Goal explain the topics covered in this book in more depth and more relevant ways.

Good listen

Fictional case study of a project deployment in action: I wasn't crazy about the narrator's voice but I did pick up a few ideas to apply to my own work. Worth the listen